I just want to share some things I’ve learned recently while researching, for those like me that know almost nothing about indigenous North American languages and people (but probably should if they live on land belonging to the people mentioned below):
Algonquin and Algonquian are two different things.
Algonquin is a specific group of people native to Canada, and is also the name of the language Algonquin people speak.
Algonquian describes the language family that includes Algonquin, among others. Other Algonquian languages include Ojibwe, Mi’kmaq, and Cheyenne. The people that speak these languages are not Algonquin, but they can be called Algonquian because their languages fall into the Algonquian language family.
Likewise, “Iroquois*” and Iroquoian are two different things.
Iroquois is a not-so-nice term used for the Haudenosaunee, who are people who are members of nations allied within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy aka the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, Tuscarora), and they all speak Iroquoian languages.
Iroquoian describes the family that languages of the Haudenosaunee belong to, as well as their relatives that were not spoken within the alliance --for example, Erie, Wenrohronon, and Susquehannock (all no longer spoken). All three of these languages were Iroquoian and the people that spoke them can be considered Iroquoian, but they were not Iroquois because they were never members of the Six Nations; in fact, these specific tribes were all enemies of the Haudenosaunee, which is why the difference matters!
*Many Haudenosaunee, as well as some scholars, trace “Iroquois” back to Algonquian origins, with proposed meanings including “snake” or “snake people” among other negative meanings, which was then altered by the French to suit their language. This name is marked by many as a disrespectful one given to the Haudenosaunee by their enemy.
So because of this, it is far more respectful to refer to the Haudenosaunee by their preferred name, which roughly means “People of the Long House”. "Iroquois” is used in this post for only for clarity as it is a more commonly known word and many people have never even heard Haudenosaunee (like me!), but for future posts I will exclusively use Haudenosaunee instead. Unfortunately I have not seen a proposed alternative to “Iroquoian” in regards to the language family.
For the pronunciation of “Haudenosaunee” (which is pretty easy btw) and more background info, click here.
In short:
Algonquin and Iroquois refer of specific groups of people (and the latter is far from flattering so avoid using it).
Algonquian and Iroquoian describe languages and people related to Algonquin and Haudenosaunee languages and people, but may not necessarily fall under those labels themselves.
Corrections are welcome!
